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I've been squeamish about meat for a long time. My Iowa friends will recall my habit of pretending that chicken came from a plant, and that the bones were just particularly large stems. (It's amazing how easy it is to pretend this when your meat comes prepackaged and even precooked.) But I always *wanted* to be vegetarian. I just wasn't ready to give up chicken. I felt guilty about this, because I knew of the sunless, beakless lives chickens lead in the Tyson plants. Then a couple of years ago I saw Super-Size Me. Learning that a hamburger could have parts of 100 or more cows in it really disturbed me. The revulsion was enough to move me to commit to a meatless menu. And I have kept it up, with minimal cheating, for 2 years.
At the time I turned vegetarian, I was on the Jenny Craig program and it was going pretty well. I had lost 30 pounds. JC doesn't have many meatless options, however, and so I was on my own. I found a lot of other frozen meals to eat and so sort of managed. But the trouble is I was never satisfied. I ate lots and lots and lots of cheese in an attempt to satisfy my protein hunger, but it just wasn't the same. In the last 2 years I've been trying to diet but I've gained back the 30 I lost plus 5 more. (Part of the problem also is that I haven't been cooking.)
Today I go back to dieting. With meat. I'm really tired of my clothes not fitting, and tired of feeling run down. I think eating a little meat each day may help. I still plan to cook vegetarian (and actually cook again), and I still like HotDogs and Boca burgers. But now I can get lowfat chicken patties made of actual chicken, which actually have less fat than the fake chicken patties. And now I can have a turkey sandwich for a quick snack. It basically means I have more options, and that was what was really bugging me.
I firmly believe you can lead a very healthy life as a vegetarian, and that with today's alternatives you really don't need meat. But perhaps it's easier if you're healthy already. Perhaps the South Beach diet and Atkins are on to something: maybe eating meat makes it easier to lose weight.
When I get back to what I weighed when I started avoiding meat, I'll consider going meatless again.
At the time I turned vegetarian, I was on the Jenny Craig program and it was going pretty well. I had lost 30 pounds. JC doesn't have many meatless options, however, and so I was on my own. I found a lot of other frozen meals to eat and so sort of managed. But the trouble is I was never satisfied. I ate lots and lots and lots of cheese in an attempt to satisfy my protein hunger, but it just wasn't the same. In the last 2 years I've been trying to diet but I've gained back the 30 I lost plus 5 more. (Part of the problem also is that I haven't been cooking.)
Today I go back to dieting. With meat. I'm really tired of my clothes not fitting, and tired of feeling run down. I think eating a little meat each day may help. I still plan to cook vegetarian (and actually cook again), and I still like HotDogs and Boca burgers. But now I can get lowfat chicken patties made of actual chicken, which actually have less fat than the fake chicken patties. And now I can have a turkey sandwich for a quick snack. It basically means I have more options, and that was what was really bugging me.
I firmly believe you can lead a very healthy life as a vegetarian, and that with today's alternatives you really don't need meat. But perhaps it's easier if you're healthy already. Perhaps the South Beach diet and Atkins are on to something: maybe eating meat makes it easier to lose weight.
When I get back to what I weighed when I started avoiding meat, I'll consider going meatless again.